I usually try not to let games like this bother me but I wanted to put my fist through the TV. Your starter goes seven innings, gives up two runs and all you can muster is three hits? Oh okay, the Marlins did make some stellar defensive plays that robbed the Yankees of a few hits so it’s a good thing Mark Teixeira had the good sense to hit a ball 429 feet so a Marlins player couldn’t get to it or this game would have been even more annoying.

Anyway, here’s the pitch that doomed the Yankees last night. (They were probably going to lose because if the Marlins hadn’t scored in the seventh, they would have scored eventually.)

Tanaka: “Here’s a 92 mph meatball, I mean, fastball over the plate! See what you can do with it!”Derek Dietrich: “Hey, thanks man!”
*BOOM*

Dietrich also scored the first run against Tanaka in the second after hitting a double and scoring on a base hit.…

Road interleague games are not made for this version of the Yankees. The loss of their regular #3 hitter at the expense of a pitcher hitting for himself is a huge blow to the currently shaky offense, and the lack of run support typically associated with a weakened lineup was the reason for last night’s loss. Masahiro Tanaka pitched another good game and still lost to a guy I’ve never heard of. TO quote Joe Girardi, that’s not what you want.

There was another early lead in the cards for the Bombers last night, courtesy of Mark Teixeira‘s 18th home run of the season. He got a 3-1 fastball from Miami starter Tom Koehler to lead off the top of the 2nd and he didn’t waste it, launching it well over the right center field wall. It really is amazing what Teix is doing this year. Too bad he’s not a Kansas City Royal. Then he’d make the All-Star Game for sure.…

If you asked most Yankees fans what the biggest issue with the team is the vast majority would probably say second base or the leaky middle relief. While both are issues, neither are as bad as Carlos Beltran in right field.

The middle relief is porous, but good starting pitching can cover that up, and Chasen Shreve and Justin Wilson showed what they can do yesterday in setting up for Dellin Betances. Drew is also terrible, but at least he can hit home runs and play defense, which are two more things than Beltran can do on a baseball diamond at this point. Father time is undefeated in all sports and it has gotten the best of Beltran.

Beltran literally does nothing well anymore, which his -.04 WAR suggests he is worse than a replacement player would be. His defense in right field is just unwatchable, and it’s amazing how it has been put up with this long already because it’s become untenable.…

When I first started covering the minor leagues for IIATMS about four or five years ago, the truly exciting prospects were in the lower levels and, in some cases, weren’t even stateside. It often felt like Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was stocked with players who were either desperately trying to make it back to the majors, even though their prospects looked bleak, and those who had once been greatly touted, but were never able to breakthrough (see Eric Duncan). This is one of the many reasons I have gotten such a kick out of seeing players like Slade Heathcott, Ramon Flores and Mason Williams all make their debuts this year.

It’s been pretty exciting for me to watch some of these guys as they move along. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by some (Chase Whitley wasn’t off my radar, but I didn’t expect much from him) and disappointed by many (Graham Stoneburner – who just seemed destined to put on pinstripes with a name that translates to Steinbrenner, Dante Bichette, Jr., Jesus Montero, and so on).…

Dellin Betances shakes hands with a small child in a John Ryan Murphy jersey at the conclusion of yesterday’s game. Courtesy of the AP

The Yankees salvaged a little something from the weekend series in Baltimore yesterday with a hard fought 5-3 victory. The big offensive inning in the top of the 5th is what got them the lead, but the real reason they held on to win was the outstanding relief work by the last 3 reliable men standing in the bullpen.

Chasen Shreve, Justin Wilson, and Dellin Betances. Only 1 of them was expected to be a critical part of the bullpen’s success this year, but yesterday all 3 of them shined in their new roles. Shreve came on in relief of starter Adam Warren in the bottom of the 5th to hold the lead the offense had just given them, and did so by getting Travis Snider to fly out to end the inning. He then returned to the mound for the start of the 6th inning and retired the Orioles 1-2-3 on a pair of groundouts and a foul tip strikeout.…

It’s been an ugly few days for the Yankees. They gagged one away at home against the Nationals on Wednesday afternoon, then went to Baltimore and played piss poor baseball on their way to getting mollywhopped in the first 2 games of this series. They needed a win today to stem the tide and salvage a little something from this series if nothing else, and they did enough to get that win. I don’t want to go too far in stretching 1 game into a “this is what good teams do” narrative, but all things considered it did feel a little bit like that kind of win.

Adam Warren got the stopper start today and he wasn’t nearly as good as he had been in the starts leading up to this one. The O’s got him for 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st after he loaded the bases with 1 out and gave up a 2-run single to Nolan Reimold, and he gave up another in the 4th on a walk, single, double exchange. …